1. Field of the Invention
THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a safety arrangement, and more particularly relates to a safety arrangement for a motor vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
When a motor vehicle, such as a motor car, is involved in an accident in which the front part of the vehicle strikes a pedestrian, it is not uncommon for the head of the pedestrian to be brought forcible into contact with the hood or bonnet of the vehicle. This may cause the hood or bonnet to deform, but, in many cases, that deformation is arrested as the hood or bonnet engages part of the engine block, or other component within the engine compartment, immediately beneath the hood or bonnet. As a consequence, the movement of the head of the pedestrian is suddenly arrested, and the head of the pedestrian is thus subjected to a very severe deceleration, which is undesirable, as severe injuries may arise.
It has been proposed previously to provide one or more inflatable elements located adjacent the rear edge of the hood or bonnet adapted to be inflated in an accident situation of the type described, so that the rear edge of the hood or bonnet is lifted, thus spacing hood or bonnet from the engine block, or other components, within the engine compartment. This enables the head of a pedestrian, if it strikes a hood or bonnet in an accident of the type under consideration, to be decelerated gradually, as the hood or bonnet deforms.
The inflatable elements that have been previous proposed, have been conventional air-bags, which suffer from the disadvantage that they do not remain inflated for a period of time long enough to provide an adequate degree of protection for a pedestrian during a typical accident situation, and also may lead to “bounce” in that when the head of the pedestrian strikes the bonnet, the down-force provided to the hood or bonnet by the pedestrian, will re-compress the gas present within the inflated air-bag, which will then exert a resilient up-force on a hood or bonnet, causing a hood or bonnet to move upwardly which will serve to increase the forces applied to the head of the pedestrian.